Each week we are privileged to learn from so many coaches and student-athletes from programs across the country. We’ve been very fortunate to partner with Holy Cross, a member of the Patriot League, over the past few years. Here are some practical and proven ideas you can use with your team from the coaches and student-athletes from the Holy Cross Leadership Academy.

1. Core Values and Culture Building

Although it may seem natural to most that student-athletes should be involved in clarifying the direction of the team, it might be surprising to know that we see many teams where the coaching staff creates all the goals and hands them to the team to execute. Regardless of the field, whether business or athletics, people tend to have the most buy-in when they have been involved with the process.

Head men’s hockey coach Paul Pearl has his team create a “team core values” statement that they create separately from the coaching staff. He has found that it gets the younger team members involved and invested from the start. Head volleyball coach Erin Cady has her team develop a mantra/slogan and team goals for each season. The team creates a visual representation to hang in the team locker room to keep those goals top of mind throughout the season. This past season, the team created a ladder and had each step represent something that would get them closer to their goal. It was a great visual representation of what was required to achieve what they want to do.